1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to binding groups that store shader state data and more specifically to sharing binding groups between shader programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional graphics systems a binding point that references shader state data used to process graphics data is defined and referenced by each shader program. Specifically, there is a one-to-one pairing between binding points and shader programs. In current systems a limited number of binding points are available for use by shaders since the shader state data occupies a significant amount of memory. As the number of shaders increases, the amount of memory needed to store the shader state data referenced by each binding point also increases as does the memory bandwidth that is consumed to access the shader state data.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a system and method for sharing binding points between two or more shaders.